Whims of Fate
by Prestige Productions
Summary: An heiress trapped by the gilded chains of obligation crosses paths with a thief who embraces freedom with a smile *ON INDEFINITE HIATUS*


_**Alright, this is basically a reboot of Chapter 1. Because that was a pathetically rushed 4 hour ordeal that I pumped out on zero sleep before embarking on the shittiest family vacation on record!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Rooster Teeth owns RWBY for fuck's sake!**_

Snow was falling for the umpteenth time in the streets of Atlas as the people went about a normal night un their extravagant lives, elsewhere throughout the world of Remnant cities were being overrun with the creatures of Grimm and families were struggling not only to keep each other safe but also keep their bellies full. But such troubles were nothing but pipe dreams to these affluent souls who had everything and wanted more even still, however as the crème de la crème of Atlas citizenry mulled about there was one soul in Atlas who seemed less than content with their glorious lifestyle as their town car cruised along the well-lit roads.

"I EXPLICITLY told you that my specifications were to be followed **to the letter!** I don't give a damn if it's the birthday of God himself the next day, my MONEY trumps God!" The clearly livid voice of Jacques Schnee was nothing new to his forlorn daughter since having been forced to return to her home kingdom after Beacon fell, since then Weiss had done her best to keep a low profile whenever she happened to find herself in his presence even though it would often amount to little in the face of the patriarch's anger. "Blasted unions, when you're given an order it should be followed to the letter!" He would pause to take a calming breath and massage away the dull ache that had begun building in his temples, even as Weiss absentmindedly rolled her eyes while trying to suppress her disgust at the almost-childish temper tantrum that the older man was throwing.

"No need to worry father, I have no doubt that everything will be in order when my dear sister finally takes the stage to serenade our dear friends and compatriots." Whitley Schnee, Weiss's younger brother would smile peacefully as he stared back at her with the chilling calm of a predator in the wild. The young man was clearly everything that their father looked for in a proper heir: obedient, ruthless, manipulative, and completely sold on Jacques world-view.

To put it simply, Whitley was everything that she used to be before finding Team RWBY at Beacon Academy and learning that not everything was as black and white as the patriarch liked to paint it. The world of Remnant was as colorful and vibrant as the names that every denizen bared, heroes had the potential to use their influence to assert their will upon someone else just as much as the lowliest street rat could surrender their ill-gotten gains to ensure that a starving orphan could survive the day with one less worry. Thanks to her time at Beacon she had learned that not all Faunus were rebel scum that just needed to be subjugated, that the power of one's name didn't always bring the top honors that one expected, and that the unlikeliest of individuals could not only rise to become a competent and versatile leader but also a dear friend who was now more than sorely missed.

"I think I'll take dinner into my room when we finally return home, you seem to have your hands full with preparations at this point and I'd rather not get in your way." Weiss would do her best to keep her tone casual and light, and while Jacques made only the slightest noise of affirmation to her plans her sibling seemed less than pleased by her continued isolation.

"Weiss, I'm starting to think you don't enjoy our company very much. After all we've hardly spent any time together since your return, and with Winter so very busy dealing with the good General's PR maelstrom it's been awful lonely at the dinner table with just father and myself." The pale-haired young man would watch her shrewdly as one would watch their rival for even the slightest sign of weakness. "Won't you please reconsider joining us for dinner for just this one night?"

The heiress would do her best not to buckle under her brother's predatory gaze and instead treat him like just another trust fund baby trying to get under her combat skirt, immediately steeling her gaze and adapting a firm tone before speaking. "I'd rather not. I'm sure mother would be overjoyed to take my seat at the dinner table for tonight." She could barely contain her elation as Whitley lowered his gaze in what seemed to be a sign of defeat, and while it had been a slight victory against not only his need to assert authority over her it was a victory nonetheless.

Meanwhile in another part of the city, alarms would break the silence within the normally shut down jewelry district as a black trench coated individual in a tiger mask would dart out of the nearby Jay's Jeweler's with the stereotypical sack of stolen goods over his shoulder as he raced through the empty aisle ways in an attempt to get outta there before the security bots finally noticed that something was amiss. " _I can't believe that all my experiences with that group of thieves are actually being used like this, I was honestly hoping that the increased stealthiness would help me out in future adventures!"_ The masked man would see the entrance to the store in sight, the lights from outside seemingly singing a siren call to safety, however before he could begin to let himself get caught up in the elation of another well worked heist the audible sounds of the heavy metal gates would slam down audibly and prevent his escape. "Well shit, this has got to be a giant middle finger from the universe." The raven-haired thief would lower the sack of pilfered goods to the ground and took a calming breath as a small squad of security robots would encircle him, the gears in their mechanical arms whirring audibly as fingertips became barrels of a blaster as they focused in on the cagey bandit.

"Intruder confirmed, contacting local authorities..awaiting orders..awaiting orders..awaiting-" The nearest machine's head would go flying off as the masked thief revealed a pair of black and silver tonfa from inside his sleeves before leaping up into the air as the security droids opened fire, their blasts being quickly repelled by the man's swift hand motions as a few were actually destroyed by their own return fire. "Initiating suppressive countermeasures, switching to blade mode!" The gears would begin to whir once again, their joints being uncharacteristically slow and sluggish as the change from blaster to blade took place as the thief kept busting the heads of the slower units before having to parry a blade strike and countering with an Aura-enhanced axe kick and watching in shock as the machine fell away in two halves.

"Never been able to do THAT before!" The masked tiger would have little time to marvel at his newfound strength before having to continue to fight back and decimate two more security bots with quick strikes to the joints, his brow furrowing in confusion as he examined the chaotic scenery of scraps and glass from the jewelry cases. "This isn't right, Atlas tech was never this laggy before the whole kerfuffle during the Vytal Festival." A brief flash of light would cause him to shield his eyes as the sounds of people screaming in terror followed by the sounds of gunfire close by, he would swing his tonfa purely out of reflex as the screams became more panicked as his temples screamed in agony.

" _Jack? Jack can you hear me buddy, Atlas patrols are five minutes away! C'mon brother you gotta move!"_ A voice would break through the haze of noise and fire, a calming force that reminded him that while he wasn't on a blazing battlefield time was still very much a factor. " _C'mon Jackie-boy, get the lead out!"_ It was the voice of his Navigator Micah, the one who was his eyes and ears when it came to matters of security and often gave valuable insight whenever the situation turned ugly.

Like right now for example.

"Alright Tonga, how do I get outta here because these gates don't exactly have door knobs to deal with!" The masked thief would reclaim his missing tonfa as he looked upon the metal barricade that was keeping him penned in before examining his weapon curiously. Uhh T, how strong are my Maharajah when firing projectiles?"

" _Well, if Brother Eye is right then one shell can put a decent dent in those doors, I'm sure you can batter your way through if you had enough time. Why, what's the plan Jack?"_ The sound of fingers hitting the keyboard would fill the thief's ears as the whine of police sirens could be heard in the distance, a smirk appearing on his face as he noticed the Charge Ports on his weapons. " _Jack? Hello, Remnant to Jackie Boy!"_

"The Dust Shells can be charged, right?" Jack would quickly work through the bare minimum of the details when it came to his plans, knowing there was little time to wait for answers as he slammed the pair of Tonfa together as the low hum of a charging Dust Shell Cannon began.

" _Yeahh, but that's mainly for tanks or bunker doors- No…Jack, No! Are you listening to me?"_ The hum of his Maharajah would be more audible as the thief known as Jack would start laughing maniacally as he let loose a massive blast of Burn Dust as the metal gates were blown off the hinges and shattered to slivers of melted ore as a scream could be heard in the distance. " _Uhh, was that a Wilhelm Scream?"_

"I thought those only existed in the movies. Oh well time to jet!" Jack would grab his sack of jewelry and make his way out through the gaping hole that was left by the blast, not surprised to see patrol cars rounding the corner as the thief scaled the nearby building and looked down at the flustered officers. "Hate to steal and run but- wait, no I don't!" He would grin and fire a few shells at the parked patrol cars, wincing slightly as one of them exploded before deciding to give the startled officers a Dab before running off with an obnoxious grin before disappearing into the night.

When the Chief Inspector finally made her way out to the scene of the crime, the officers were giving their statements of the situation. The red-haired woman would walk past as the crime scene technicians were going through working the crime scene, not surprised to see that her trusted subordinate was already on hand and barking orders. "Talk to me Graphite, how did our boy managed to break past a solid metal gate?" She would look around the area carefully, looking for that certain something that her Phantom Thief tended to leave behind.

"Well boss, looks like our boy used some kind of souped-up flamethrower to torch his way through. Although I don't understand how the rest of the wreckage was caused, seems pretty needless if you ask me." Calder Graphite would shake his head sadly as he looked out at the rest of the damaged gate, wondering just how much worse things were about to get in Atlas after that disaster of a Vytal Festival cost the Atlas Military its reputation, the world of Remnant its ability to communicate with other, and many families their loved ones. "I still don't get why the diamonds that get stolen **never** end up back on the Black Market, i-if he's not fencing them then why- "The steel-haired young man would sigh as he felt the chief's hand on his shoulder, smiling slightly as he realized just how worked up he was starting to get.

"You need to take a break rookie, I don't want that pretty little wife blowing up my voicemail again complaining about how run down you are." The chief would ruffle his hair playfully before seeing something embedded in the wall behind him, gently pushing past him to see that a pair of playing cards jutting out of a crack. "Son of a bitch."

Waiting for the duo was the Ace of Clubs and Queen of Spades, it was her Phantom Thief's obligatory taunt that was often left behind. It was also what inspired the media's moniker of the masked bastard.

Blackjack.

Weiss would rub her temples upon closing and locking the door to her room following her family's return to their palatial manor, Whitley's disgusting gaze still causing her a great deal of discomfort as she went to her vanity mirror and opened the box that contained her beloved Myrtenaster and sighs as she reflected upon the memories of her time at Beacon and a member of Team RWBY.

" _I do hope the others are doing well, I really want to believe that I'm the only one going through a personal Hell because of The Fall."_ The pale-haired heiress would shake her head as she remembered the last time that she had stood beside the other members of RWBY: Yang was unconscious and missing a good portion of her right arm, Blake had been doing her best to keep the pressure on a bleeding stab wound while looking like she had spent an hour bicycle-kicking puppies based on how guilty her expression was, but Ruby was perhaps the worst affected out of the three of them having not only endured witnessing the death of their Android friend Penny but also had to endure having to deal with whatever the heck caused that flash of light from atop Beacon Tower. " _She wasn't even conscious by the time father forced me to return to Atlas, I really hope there's a God watching over us because Ruby is the last person in Remnant who deserves to be in a coma."_

Weiss would close Myrtenaster's box once again and step outside to her balcony, deciding to close her eyes and fold her hands in prayer not only for herself but for the many friends left behind.

 _ **So you're reading this and wondering: What's the difference between this and the rushed draft?**_

 _ **The jewelry store scene was heavily redone: giving the thief a name, expanding on the weapon he used, the clash between Jack and the security droids, the bit with the chief and her lackey Calder.**_

 _ **Plus the sandwiched end with Weiss, it can't all be OC after all.**_

 _ **I'm honestly trying to get my love for RWBY back, but i just can't help but bash my head whenever i try to re-watch the show: my views on almost EVERYBODY is tainted now, although Weiss is seen in a more positive light, and I'm even willing to #GiveJauneAChance**_

 _ **In the meantime if you're jonesing for competent RWBY writing, feel free to hit up my friend LcLunattic and read her Team VSTA fic. Really good stuff.**_

 _ **Ta-Ta for now**_


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